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Benghazi: The Insecure Crossroad of Oil, Mercenaries and Jihadists

There are events going on in Africa that are quite devastating for people living there, although the world is currently focused on Ukraine and another attempt to create a failed state. For example, on the last day of April 2014, 34 percent of the shares in Heritage Oil were sold to Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, by Tony Buckingham. Mr. Buckingham and his friends have become quite richfrom the wars in Iraq and Libya due to their ownership of oil fields, provision of private security to war zones, and creative business transactions.

Immediately after the sale of the shares of Heritage Oil, for example, the value of these shares rose by 23 percent. How such market accidents happen is beyond the logic of mere writers, but it will be recalled that a similar kind of market joy happened when Heritage Oil “discovered” its product in Iraq straight after the second Gulf War. Somebody from Heritage Oil leaked information to Genels directors Mehmet Sepel, Murat Ozgul and Levent Akca, who bought shares of the company before the oil find was officially announced. Fortunately they were prosecuted for insider dealing.

Returning to the more recent Heritage Oil deal. On its own, there is nothing remarkable in buying and selling companies. The timing of this sale, however, produced a remarkable coincidence. One of the areas in which Heritage Oil has interests is in the failed state of Libya, or to be more precise: Benghazi. Less than a week after Heritage Oil changed hands, the security headquarters in Benghazi were attacked yet again, this time killing nine people and wounding 24. The group blamed for this attack by the Libyan government is Ansar al-Shariah, which was also blamed for the September 2012 attack on the same security headquarters that killed United States Ambassador Christopher Stevens together with three of his staff members.

Ansar al-Shariah spokesperson Mohammad Ali al-Zahawi denies that the group had any involvement in the 2012 attack. If the attackers on May 2, 2014 were Ansar al-Shariah, they were well-funded by some source, because they put up a fierce battle against the security forces in Benghazi, and this cannot be done without modern weaponry. Ansar al-Shariah oppose Liberals in Benghazi and claim to have overthrown Muammar Gaddafi, which would make them NATO allies rather than enemies.

Before Buckingham became an oil magnate, he was implicated in mercenary activities throughout Africa. He has a past full of work on behalf of governments to overthrow other governments,and his days as a mercenary may be considered checkered, though he claims they are over. One of his business partners, Simon Mann, has been convicted of trying to engineer a coup d’etat and imprisoned for this crime. Another of Buckingham’s ties was to Tim Spicer, a former Lieutenant-Colonel in the Scots Guards who served in Northern Ireland. Two of Spicer’s soldiers there were serving lifetime prison sentences for shooting two unarmed men and killing one of them: Peter McBride.

Spicer has always been protective of Tony Buckingham. When he was pulled before a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee in 1998 and questioned about whether Buckingham was Chairman of the private security company Sandline International, Spicer told the committee “I may have referred to him as Chairman but he is not the Chairman of Sandline,” claiming instead that he just sought advice and support from Buckingham. When asked who was the Chairman of Sandline International, Spicer finally said that he himself was the only senior official of the company. (Craig Murray, The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known, Atholl Publishing, pp. 64-5)

After the war in Iraq, Spicer got the contract for private security in that country through his company PMC Aegis Defense Services. After some serious questions in the US Congress, then-Senator Barack Obamawrote to a constituent in 2005 “As you know, the CEO of Aegis Defense Services Tim Spicer has been implicated in a variety of human rights abuses around the globe. Given his history, I agree that the United States should consider rescinding its contract with his company.” Spicer has been pressed on this issue more than once, but Aegis is still there, among other things allegedly protecting the oil fields stolen from the Iraqis in this other failed state.

Considering that Buckingham is a former mercenary with contacts in the private security industry, could it be a coincidence that the sale of Heritage Oil and the attack on the security headquarters in Benghazi happened only days apart? According to The Independent, Heritage Oil had recently not been performing well. This enabled the oil-rich Sheikh to buy in cheap, at less than a billion pounds sterling. Buckingham came out of the deal quite well, pocketing a cool £300m from his oil interests. Although he cannot sell his shares for five years, he stays on in an advisory role and retains a 20 percent stake, which has already shot up in value by 23 percent, as noted before.

What was thesource of the funds to Ansar al-Shariah, or whoever carried out the latest attack on Benghazi? Don’t be surprised if there is a drone strike andextra-judicial killing of somebody allegedly responsible for thesecurity-headquarters attack. It is the new way of US justice.

One cannot but feel sympathy for Libyans and Iraqis whose countries have been put into perpetual turmoil by a NATO intervention and theft of their oil.Qatar is one of the most repressive of the Sheikh kingdoms and a fitting partner to western powers. It has been chosen as the venue for the 2022 World Cup but an ambassador from Nepal, Maya Kumari Sharma, has called the country an “open jail” due to the deathsof a growing number of Nepalese migrant workers.

While Qatar is a state with which the UK is friendly for the moment, many people will recall the photograph of Tony Blair hugging Muammar Gaddafi three or four years before NATO’s humanitarian liberation of Libya that has since left it in a permanent state of civil war. Where there is big money, there are generally power battles to protect financial interests and maximize profits. Governments also have interests because the big investors fund political parties to gain lobby leverage. Tony Buckingham has been a big donor to the United Kingdom’s Tory Party.How much does the UK government know about what is happening in Libya and how much involvement do we as a country today have?

Editors Note: This video was sent to me by Lady Khamis who sometimes writes in this blog, I will put her comment as she wrote it to me. About Belhadj you can find in the archives to see who he really is. In my opinion a financed killer by the west he and his cronies were involved in the kidnapping of the other terrorist Libby and lets not forget his last escapade two days ago where the US special forces and his militia caught the leader of Anshar from Tunis in Misurata.

Many times we have established in this blog that the USA/ UK/ FRANCE/ QATAR have collaborated with al Qaeda, LIFG and other extremist parties, it’s up to you to wake up and take control of your tax money which goes into financing these extremists instead of exterminating them.

“you may want to see this. Its another al-jazeera ‘people and power’ one. They did Libya 2 weeks running this month here in UK.
This episode is all about Libya and Belhadj and rendition, (little bit about Blair and Q ).It is really shocking in the way they are sucking up to this extremist and terroristas if he has done nothing bad and its so duplicitious…its an eye-opener to how they present newsto how its suits them. Viewers who do not know the truth about this man would be flabbergasted if they were told! and bewildered how such a man could be presented like this.”

In October 2013, Al-Jazeera English TV showed a sensational documentary film that has cleared the heroic Gaddafi Libyan Army forces of the rape allegations that were made against them during the 2011 war in Libya.

The film, by Ashraf Mashharawi, documented the findings of a Libyan community group calling itself “Reconciliation Is Good”, which set out to find out the truth about the allegations of “mass rapes”committed by the Libyan Army (and the Khamis Brigade) in Misurata in spring 2011.

The programme admitted that after towns and cities across Libya were recaptured by Libya’s Army (from the minority groups of armed gangs and terrorists – that were acting on behalf of, and funded by, outside foreign agents -) there had been no reports of any rapescommitted by Gaddafi forces.(Indeed, other investigations have found no genocidal behaviour had ever been committed at all during the entire war by any of the official Libyan Army brigades – including, of course, the Khamis Brigade).

As the Libyan army prepared to re-take Misurata in late February, and March and April 2011, it was only here that rapes were found to have taken place.

At the time, it was stated that “mass rapes” had occurred in huge numbers and were being committed by the Libyan Army (and the Khamis Brigade – also known as the 32 Brigade – which was the primary unit of the Libyan Army deployed to fight the rebels in Misurata during the war).

But the investigation found that while rapes had happened in Misurata,all of them had been committed by some members of the non-army, volunteer residents from the nearby town of Tawergha . And that no rapes had been committed by any Libyan Army soldiers (including, of course, none by the Khamis Brigade).

This means that the rapes were carried out by only the undisciplined, untrained, and clearly wilder youthful elements of some of the volunteers of some of the Tawergha volunteers. They were not committed by any of the trained, proper soldiers of Gaddafi’s Libyan Armed Forces.

When the tribes of Misurata and Tawergha met to discuss the rapes, it was finally admitted for the first time (what Gaddafi supporters had already suspected). The rebels had lied about the incidents of rapes – and on a large scale.

The reconciliation activist and spokesman for the “Reconciliation Is Good” group, Abdul Salam al-Shaikhi, told Al-Jazeera that the rebels of Misurata had admitted the number of rapes had been “exaggerated”, and the “number of cases inflated”…(You can bet this means HUGELY exaggerated and inflated).

The group admitted the rebels had “circulated larger numbers” of victims than there really were…

By late April 2011, this particular battle for Misurata had concluded.

This one-hour programme was shown several times on Al-Jazeera English language TV during the first week of October 2013 – under the strand “Al-Jazeera World” and titled “The Road To Tawergha”.

(All bracketed parts of this above report are my own additions. The rest of the following is my own and not from al-Jazeera):

As there has been no news coverage of this, or, to my knowledge, any version of this programme having been shown in other countries, then I can only come to the conclusion that its findings have been suppressed.

Unfortunately, Al-Jazeera did not apologise for willingly circulating all these false claims against Gaddafi forces – or for the damage it caused to the good name and standing of the Libyan Army – as Western foreign journalists eagerly swallowed and repeated these lies to suit their own corporate agenda.

Later allegations of Libyan Army soldiers having been given Viagra for rapes were also proven to be lies.

A Sunday newspaper on 17th April 2011 reported Gaddafi soldiers were raping women in Misurata – yet even Nato had admitted on 6th April 2011 that no civilians were left in Misurata as they had all left the city. Clearly, to me, something did not add up.

It also reminds me of an incident early in the war, which perfectly illustrates the noble courage of the Libyan Army. Rebels used children as human shields to try to get some Gaddafi Army soldiers to disarm. In the incident, the rebels told the soldiers to hand over their weapons or to attack the children to get the rebels. The soldiers handed over their weapons to the rebels rather than shoot the children. These brave soldiers then surrendered themselves to the rebels – and an uncertain fate…

It also reminds me how, at the very beginning of the false 2011 ‘uprising’ in Libya, Prince Khamis Gaddafi was reported by the rebels to have been visiting all Libya’s prisons and ordering an increase in torture of the inmates. I thought to myself that, as a VIP, surely a simple telephone call from him would have sufficed! The story was clearly nonsense. Instead of screening these false allegations, any sensible journalist could have easily checked these claims – as I did – and found Khamis was not in Libya nor had he beenat any time that these allegations related. In fact, he had been living in Spain, where he was studying, and had then gone onto the US for a subsequently partially aborted business tour. Only after this did he return to Libya – to defend the country.

I am glad the good name of the Libyan Army and the Khamis Brigade is finally being cleared – as well as those Tawerghan men who volunteered but chose not to join their other Tawerghan colleagues in participating in the rapes. And that the truth, including for the sake of the victims, is starting slowly, but surely, to emerge – even if it is two years too damn late…

The Emir of Qatar is the destructor of Libya and Syria – video

The Emir of Qatar uses his money, its Al Jazeera TV, his preacher Qaradawi to kill the Arab world.

He began by Tunisia for use this as a rear baseline and a land delivery of arms to Libya. He placed the government of the Muslim Brotherhood.
He murdered the guide Maoummer Gaddafi and destroyed his country and take its oil. A personal vengeance because the guide Gaddafi insulted him once during an assembly of the Arab League.
He removed the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and he placed the Muslim Brotherhood. if Hosni Mubarak is still in power, he will not let the Arab League to tackle Syria.
The Boss maintaining of the Arab League is the Emir of Qatar.
He removed the President of Yemen to place his pal.
2 years, he attacks Syria by supplying mercenaries and weapons. He uses Turkey and Jordan to destroy their neighbour.

The student had been one of three on hunger strike for a week as part of the 15-day protest against unexpected grant cuts by the Ministry of Higher Education.

Ali L. Elgayar, president of the group ‘Libyan Students in Malaysia’ said that, after a seven-day hunger strike, the student experienced heart problems and was taken to hospital. He has been in hospital for three days and his condition is now understood to be stable.

Another student, forced to sleep outside because of limited space indoors, has been hospitalised after contracting dengue from a mosquito bite. His condition is also understood to be stable. The embassy room occupied by the students is only big enough for 10 people, so many students are sleeping outside.

Two further protesters on hunger strike have consumed only water and juice for 11 days.

“I have asked them to stop the hunger strike,” said Elgayer, “but they refuse to listen. We are watching them very carefully and will send them to hospital immediately if they become ill.”

The police have tried to evict the students under orders of the Libyan Ambassador in Malaysia, Abubakr al-Mansouri, however this failed in the first attempt as reported by IMTnews earlier.

Elgayar said: “The Ambassador gave orders to the police to go into the embassy. He wanted the police to pull us out in any way, even using force.”

Another student, Ahmed, confirmed this, saying that although there has been a police presence since the beginning of the protest, they only became officially involved at the end of last week.

“The Malaysian police were ready to use force,” he said, “this was on the Ambassador’s order by official letter, which the police showed to the students.”

Elgayar said, however, that the students sat on the ground inside the embassy and told police: ‘If you need us out you will have to pull us out, we will not go easily.” According to Elgayar, embassy staff intervened, saying: “No, we cannot watch this, we cannot watch the Libyan guys being pulled out from inside the embassy,” and the Police retreated to their position outside.

The ambassador has gone to Mecca on Haj on an all-expenses paid by the Libyan regime. He has refused to see the students, who have been occupying one room in the embassy since October 9th.

“He knows about the hunger strike but the Ambassador doesn’t care,” Elgayar said, “he only needs the embassy to work right and he doesn’t care about the students, the scholarships or their problems.”

The students have received no response from the Ministry. “We have a response only from the Libyan Congress,” Elgayer said, “and they had a meeting on Monday with the Ministry of Higher Education. But they refused the request from the students, they refused even to listen to the legislators.” He added: “I think the congress guys will come to Malaysia after Eid.”

This is now confirmed with the Libyan “General National Congress” members expected to visit Kuala Lumpur regarding this problem possibly Monday 5th November after visiting Australia where they are visiting in an attempt to resolve a problem with a second group of protesting students in Australia.

El-Gayar met the Malaysian police on 24th October and was informed that they must vacate “before Eid” and that the Malaysian police would enter the Libyan embassy irrespective of it being Libyan territory and would use force to get the students out.

However, after Jazeera reporter Sami Allawi was called and showed up inside the embassy with camera to record the action, the police covered up their name badges and withdrew evidently shocked at the publicity after Malaysian media have refused to cover this major diplomatic incident in the center of their capital city.

Malaysian media have been completely silent on the protest entering its third week with three hunger strikers.

The students in Malaysia have been protesting since 9 October about cuts to their grants. There were originally some 70 protesters, but numbers fell when police refused to allow students to re-enter the embassy after leaving to buy supplies.

Elgayar explained: “We complained about this to the police chief and we asked him to allow some students to go out to bring food otherwise we will die inside, so they arranged that three students are allowed to go out, just to bring in food.”

Some 1,500 Libyan students studying abroad have been affected by the grant cuts. It is reported that in Australia, a similar protest led to the reinstatement of their full grants. Another group of Libyan students in Australia has however now also taken up protest.

With the 180 degree U-turn by Malaysian police in the face of publicity and the failure of the Al-Jazeera reporter to heed their warnings not to cover their eviction of the Libyan students and their invasion of Libyan territory, the police have now decided not to take action and are reduced to three men in a bus.

The Malaysian diplomatic police have changed their tune to saying that this is a Libyan affair on Libyan territory among Libyan citizens and that they will not enter the embassy by force. The Libyan diplomatic staff have not showed up to work since 3 weeks, using the occupation as an excuse not to show up for work along with the absence of the ambassador.

Prior to the threat of media coverage and the report by Sami Allawi of Jazeera TV the Malaysian diplomatic police were contacting the students each day in efforts to pressure them to abandon their protest. Since the report, they have not made contact even once, and their large presence has been reduced to 3 men in a bus outside the embassy.

There are around 27 student protesters still inside the Libyan embassy in Kuala Lumpur refusing to leave. The protest began one day after a mystery man visited the embassy and called from the security gate and questioned the staff about the insecurity in Libya saying he wanted to “confirm the stupidity of the rats.”

Sources indicate that the embassy staff are worried about their security given the current situation in Libya which is highly unpopular and the ongoing peaceful protest at the embassy.

The students are from various Libyan regions and are students in numerous cities across Malaysia, many with families that are suffering as a result of the cuts and the protest. The cuts would mean wasting one or two years of study and finances as studies would have to be abandoned and students return to Libya unqualified.

The students have vowed to continue the protest but have since stopped the hunger strike given that the Libyan regime does not care if they should die and had already ordered their forceful eviction, with the ambassador leaving on the morning he handed a letter to the police asking them to intervene.